Class Notes

09.09.02

by:Keri Pearson

Schedule:
Roll
Folder
Resource Report #1
Synthesis- Stack Article
Wednesday
RES Reading- Plan Ahead if you are having trouble
Quiz #2

kat's Announcements:
Class Notes
Please make them efficient and effective enough, so students who did miss class that day will know exactly what was missed and what was discussed. Your grade on your class notes will be a reflection of how well you took notes and how much effort you put into the well being of your classmates who did miss class that day. There is an example on the Syllabus website for reference.

Kari's Announcements:
Attendance Sheet
The Attendance Sheet must be signed everyday or you will not receive credit for your attendance on that particular day. Also, please make sure that after your table is done signing the sheet that you do pass it on to the next table so everyone does get the chance to sign and receive credit for their attendance that day.
Folder:
The folder is passed around daily and contains extra handouts that have been given out in case you missed them and Quiz #1 is in there also.
Quiz #2:
Quiz #2 will be on Wednesday and will be over the readings of Spender, Stack and Cohn. If you didn't like the grade that you received on your first quiz then you are more than able to meet with the T.A.'s for assistance on how to pick out the main points and key words to help you understand the main ideas of the articles we are reading in class. Don't hesitate to get help now before it is too late.
Resource Report #1;
Make sure to include all of the high points from the article that you read. Refer to the Syllabus on the web page for the exact details and make sure you know exactly what you are supposed to be doing for the assignment. The report is due September 16th and a list of all of the articles we are not reading in class is listed on the Syllabus web page also. You may either use the thesis in the article or put one into your own words, you may also use 1st person, but it is not necessary. For the synthesis parts of the paper make sure to compare it to an article that we have already read in class. For the assignment, read the article then use the critical thinking and writing skills we have learned in class to write your paper, they are also listed on the Syllabus web page.

Stack Article:
Comments:
Hard to get into, but interesting
Was a study/ not brought down to the personal level
Compared studies
Leaps into talking about Carol Gilligan's ethical studies
Don't get the summary until 3-4 paragraphs
Background:
The Great Migration and Remigration was when African American's moved to the North to leave the oppression and then moved back to the South because of new laws that were supposed to treat them more fairly and because of reconstruction. The Jim Crow Laws were put into effect to make it harder for African American's to vote, hold office and buy land, therefore they left for the North where better opportunities were available for them.
What are the main ideas and examples?
Morality and relation
African American's migration from the South to the North and then back
Difference between the moral and ethical decision making of:
Kids/ Adults or of African American's who stayed and left
Summary:
2 main methods of decision making
Care- women related
Justice- men related
Gilligan used a small sample and only used gender as the factor of difference in the decision making. Stack interviewed people who were part of the remigration and she let them create their own dilemmas for the decision making questions. This led to the children using care reasoning because of their family values. Also boys and girls had identical results. Stack found that there were more complex categories then just gender and that to decipher between care reasoning and justice reasoning all depends on the dilemma. The thesis of the argument was: "Gender is on, but only one, of the social categories, including among many, class, culture, racial, and ethnic formation and region that shape the resources within which we construct morality."
Analysis:
Who is the audience?
Stack's peers (an academic audience)
People interested in a variety of subjects
How does Stack make the argument? How does she persuade you?
Statistics/Studies
The argument was made in a complex way
It was already complex and now it is more
The main argument Stack tries to get across is how culture affects how we rationalize a situation with care or justice and not just on if the person is male or female. Stack needed to use a better introduction and put the thesis more towards the beginning of the article. How she uses the statistics makes the article less appealing and hard to find the logic or reasoning that she is trying to get to. She could have used better wording. Her effectiveness of her argument was weak and the article was hard to follow.
Evaluate:
How can we trust it?
Find out what others say about the article or Stack herself Look at where the article is found (it is published meaning peers have reviewed it and evaluated its credibility) The credibility of an argument goes down if the reader disagrees with the argument. Also, relate the evaluation to the analysis.
Synthesis:
Answers Where? And How?
Lorber's article also shows how a person is raised conditions their morality and decision making, not their gender The Introduction to the book Gender Through the Prism of Difference gives the prism analogy and shows how social categories affect a person's connection to the world and to each other The study was not based on race alone, like most studies that we have read so far. It was based on personal and cultural histories. This section connects ideas from one source with other ideas and concepts. You want to compare and contrast this article with your own personal experiences, with other articles read and with other ideas that you have already seen before in life.

by: Laura Dearing
1. Roll
2. Folder
3. Quiz#1
4. Resource Report #1
5. Classnotes
6. Synthesis - Stack
7. Wednesday
a. RES Reading
b. Quiz #2
1. Roll
You must sign the roll sheet when it comes around if you want credit for coming to class, some people are forgetting to sign it.
2. Folder (anything distributed during classes)
Any missed assignments, graded papers, and copies of Quiz #1 can be found there.
3. Quiz #1
If you didn't get the grade that you wanted, you can meet with the TAs to get help picking out words. People have a tendency to write a lot and more often than not, the more you write the less clear your answer is (zero-in on your answer).
4. Resource Report #1
a. Due Monday, September 16th
b. No library research required
c. Pick an article listed on the website syllabus/assignment page
d. Read the article and write a report
e. synthesis your article with something we've read in class, and then with additional readings outside of class if desired
Answers to Questions about report asked in class:
f. When writing the Analysis section of the report you may either create your own thesis with your own words or quote from the book. Either or are right. Some writings state the thesis clearly while others don't so it is a judgement call. It is sometimes helpful to put it in your own words for example: read something, then without looking back at what you read create a thesis using your own words, using keywords too.
g. It can be very cut and dry: "The thesis of this article is...", just come right out and say it.
h. May write in First Person? You can but it is not necessary because we know that you are writing the report. If you use the First Person excessively it sounds like you are apologizing for what you are writing.
i. Label each section, i.e.: Analysis:, Synthesis:, etc.
5. Classnotes
Kat reminded the class to take thorough classnotes. They count for 5% of your grade and they are being graded so you want to put your best work forward. Most of the classnotes already done have been passed back for revision. Try to do your best the first time around.
6. Synthesis - Stack
Comments: It was interesting. It seemed like more of a study than a story. Stack refers to Carol Gilligan's study of ethics as if you already know about it all and then explains it later so the reader has to back track.
Summary:
-answers the question What?
The article discusses morality(moral, ethical decision making) trough gender and race The African-American remigration from the North to the South is referred to in the article repeated and is what the children and women are dealing with in the town that the author is in. 'The Great Migration' was when they migrated from the South to the North for better opportunities and freedom. When the laws changed and the Jim Crow law made it impossible for them to vote, etc. 5 million African-Americans in the early part of the century remigrated to places like Detroit, Chicago.
*You may need to make a decision between a side issue and a main issue in the article Stack studied a small group of African-Americans and had them tell her their personal dilemmas that they face vs. using Gilligan's questions. She had the people involved in her study create the questions. Stack used a small sample to draw her conclusions didn't take anything besides gender into account
-Main idea and examples
In ethical decision making the article states that men seem to use justice to help decide and women tend to use care. The children both boys and girls care for everyone and have their personal dilemmas in dividing responsibility to their family. Stack collected totally different data from Gilligan. Difference b/w Gender: in some areas of life men are more likely to use 'care' in decision making. i.e.:In working for justice:
Men: avoided confrontation with the white upper-hand during slavery.
Women: worked hand-in-hand with white upper-hand and leaders of national organizations and they were more able to have a voice
Analysis:
Gilligan's study is very general while Stack's is much more complicated Thesis: * moral reasoning is negotiated w/respect to individual or group location w/in the social structure*; (additional possible thesis ideas and keywords)
-more complex than gender
-includes class, culture, racial, ethnic information; gender is one and only one aspect
-pp.43, paragraph, top left: "This study..." and "My hypothesis..." Gilligan is too generalized, this study needed to look closer
-Author persuades us How?
Statistical study
-Makes argument in a complex way-situation more complex than Gilligan?s
-In decision making the class was asked if they thought that men use justice reasoning and women use care reasoning? does that stand true? It's different depending on culture because some cultures have stronger values of care within the family. Other people haven't seen much of a difference between the genders in this situation. It was a small test group so it seems ridiculous to draw that conclusion. It depends on the scenario which is used to consider care and justice reasoning and who it's used by; i.e.: In the business world justice reasoning will be used by both males and females. In the family world care reasoning will be used by both sexes equally. If it is mostly men in the business world then it will be mostly men using justice reasoning and vice-versa with the family situation if it is mostly females.
How does the author use the statistics, What's her reasoning/logic?
* How to decide if you can trust the author's argument, etc:
- Search for what else she's written
- Find out what other authors think of her (reviewed by peers)
- Where did you find the article? i.e.:published textbook,website,etc.
- Is there a bibliography? Did she cite her sources?
- If an argument is emotionally based or based on the author's opinion, if effects reliability
- Analyzing effect of article has to go beyond gut responses
- Look for weaknesses and strengthes
Synthesis:
- answers the questions Where? and How?
- connects ideas from one source w/other ideas and concepts
- Where have you encountered these ideas or arguments before?
- Where have you seen contrasting ideas or arguments?
- think about the thesis, main ideas, and where you've seen similar things
- review othere readings from the course to either compare or contrast
- Examples from readings:
- Lorber:idealogy how children are raised
- Stack:expectations children are raised with in their families
- prism= good illustration of difference how we understand ourselves and others, used to show how complex Stack's was able to make her argument
- Stack's weaknesses: no introduction(granted it's excerpted from a larger work) the work as a whole is still hard to follow, undermines effectiveness b/c the reader has to figure out what she's talking about
7. Wednesday
a. RES Reading - "Sex and Death in the Rational World of Defense Intellectuals" by Carol Cohn - read Part 1 & 2
b. Quiz#2 - Based on readings by:
- Spendor
- Stack
- Cohn(both Part 1 & 2)